Spring-mattress.



E. A. SOLOMON.

SPRING MATTRESS. APPLICATION FILED Nov. 16,1912.

1,097,994. 4 Patented Mans, 1914.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDGAR A. SOLOMON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD T0 ENGLANDER SPRING BED COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORA- TION OF NEW YORK.

SPRING-MATTRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

1,097,994. Patented May 26, 1914.

Application filed November 18, 1912.

To all whom it may concern Be 1t known that I, EDGAR A. SOLOMON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring-lVIattresses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bed springs, the object of the invention being to provide a metallic structure such as a woven wire spring or side-guard for such spring withan improved reinforced, strengthened and resilient edge.

lVoven wire springs and sideguards therefor are usually provided with an enlarged edge for the purpose of reinforcing such edge and giving increased tension thereto. This edge is called a rope-edge by reason of the factthat the wires at the edge of the structure are made of coiled or spiral or twisted wires resembling somewhat a rope.

By reason, however, of the fact that this rope edge is made up of a large number of spirally interwoven wires which, because of their spiral formation, have atendency to stretch in the direction of their length, these rope edges are not as strong or as resilient as they should be. Various attempts have been made to increase the resiliency and strength of this rope edge, but heretofore the rope edge-has not been reinforced in such manner as to accomplish the desired purpose, by reason of the fact that metallic members have always been used for this purpose. For instance, it has been the practice to run a wire or metallic rod through the enlarged edge of the woven spring. Vhen a wire is used this wire easily becomes distorted and bent out of shape and frequently does not return to its original position, by reason of the fact that it isbent beyond its elastic limit, so that wires have proven unsatisfactory. lVhen a solid metal rod has been used it has proven entirely too stiff and does not give that resiliency to the edge which is required in a bed spring. 'A hollow metal rod would not be satisfactory for the reason that it would bend and collapse. Nor is a hollow cable of the general form of the rope edge itself satisfactory, in that it gives and stretches lengthwise, and therefore it is a mere duplication of the rope edge itself, having all the defects of such rope edge, and therefore giving but Serial No. 731,970.

little increased resiliency and strength to such rope edge. Bed spring manufacturers have therefore for a long time sought withoutsuccess some way of giving the desired strength and resiliency and reinforcement to the rope edge of a spring of means which is simple, which will not break, which will bend and yet return to its original shape and position, which will not collapse, which will not yield in the direction of the length of the edge, and which will add but little appreciable cost to the expense of manufacturing the spring. All of the disadvantages set forth herein are overcome in the present improvement, which is extremely simple, adds but verylittle appreciable expense to the cost of the structure, and overcomes all the defects and dis advantages of metallic members heretofore used, while giving a reinforced and strengthened edge of increased resiliency to the woven wire spring.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification Figure l is a, perspective plan View of so much of a bed spring as is necessary toillustrate the present improvement, the dotted lines at one side illustrating how the improvement is applicable to a sideguard; Fig. 2 is a detail view of a portion of the rope edge of a spring illustrating the present improvement.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the figures of the drawings.

IVhile the present improvement is appli cable to the edge of a side-guard as well as to the side edges of the spring itself, it is shown herein as applied to the side edges of the spring. In the present instance this spring 2, which is of woven wire, is provided at each of its side edges, as at 3, with an enlarged rope formed edge portion 4 in which is located a non-metallic member 5., This non-metallic member must be of a resilient structure and of such character that it will flex to a certain extent and yet, when the pressure is removed therefrom, it will automatically return to its initial position. It must also be of such a structure that it will not stretch lengthwise thereof, and while of a sprin'gy natureit must have sufficient strength to reinforce and strengthen the rope formed edge of the spring. At the same time it must be also of such character that it will not yield too readily to pressure so as to bend on the slightest impact, for if this were the case it'would add but little, if any, strength or reinforcement to the edge of the spring. It must also have a high elastic limit, and this elastic limit must be greater than any possible flexure of the'edge of the spring, and therefore its elastic limit must be greater than that of an ordinary wire or metal rod, so that however much the edge of the spring is pushed out of shape or its normal position this member will always return to its normal or initial position, where, as stated hereinbefore, when a metal member is used as its elastic limit is but small, if the edge of the spring is pushed out of shape to any considerable extent the metal member remains in its bent position, because it has been bent beyond its elastic limit.

After many experiments I have discovered that a non-metallic member in the form of a ratan rod or strip 5 reinforces and strengthens, and gives increased resiliency to the rope edge. In practice thjs 'ratan may be connected at both ends to the framework of the spring, but in the present showing it is not connected for the reason that I have found that its resiliency is such that it gives the advantages set forth even though not connected at its ends to the framework. This in itself shows the inferiority of'a metal member, for the reason that such a member must be connected at its ends to the frame-work or else it has practically no resiliency at all. That is to say, when left loose within the edge it has no appreciable efficiency to reinforce or strengthen or give any additional resiliency to'the rope edge, whereas witha ratan member, even though unconnected at its ends, all the advantages set forth are obtained. The diameter of the ratan strip or rod will, of course, depend largely upon the diameter of the rope edge, but a rod of some appreciable thickness is used. This improved reinforcing structure may, of course, be used along any particular part of the spring that it is necessary to reinforce and of which it is desired to increase the tension and resiliency. For instance, the dotted lines Fig. 1 illustrate a side-guard 6 having a reinforcing upperedge 7 shown as of rope formation, since the side-guard is illustrated as of woven form, and located within this reinforcing edge is the reinforcing ratan strip 5. Owing to the high elastic limit of this ratan strip it will very promptly and efficiently return the edge of the structure to which it is applied to its initial position.

I claim as my invention 1. A bed spring made Wholly of metal, but having each marginal edge at its lengthwise extending sides only inclosing and reinforced by a non-metallic rod of elastic ratan having no stretchability in the direction of its length and extending throughout substantially the length of the spring.

2. A bed spring made wholly of metal, but having at each marginal edge along its two sides a reinforcing portion reinforced in turn by a nonmetallic circular rod of elastic ratan having practically no stretchability in the direction of its length and extending substantially throughout the entire length of the spring.

3. A woven wire bed spring having a rope-formed marginal edge at each side reinforced by a non-metallic rod consisting of ratan extending throughout substantially the length of the spring.

4. A woven wire bed spring having a rope-formed marginal edge at each side reinforced by a non-metallic rod consisting of ratan unconnected at its ends.

5. A woven wire bed spring having a roped formed edge reinforced by a nonmetallic strip of elastic ratan, having practically no stretchability in the direction of its length and extending throughout substantially the length of the spring and unconnected at its ends thereto.

6. A bed spring made wholly of metal, but having an upstanding side guard at each lengthwise extending side edge, each having a reinforced portion reinforced by a non-metallic rod consisting of ratan extending throughout substantially the length of the spring.

7. A bed spring made wholly of metal and having along each side edge an upstanding side guard, each having a ropeformed upper edge reinforced by a nonmetallic rod consisting of ratan extending throughout substantially the lengthrof the spring.

8. A bed spring made wholly of metal and having an upstanding side guard along each lengthwise extending side, each having its marginal edge reinforced by a nonmetallic rod consisting of ratan.

EDGAR A. SOLOMON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner or IPatents, Washington, .D. G. 

